The Reaper Masquerade
by mademoiselle-masquerade
Summary: A masquerade, a mask, a facade, another identity to hide yourself from the world. Keep your true nature hidden, for you are no longer human. / L.A. begins to make some unwanted noise within the Grim Reaper Association and two novice reapers are sent to investigate. They find themselves caught up in the dark world of vampires and the politics of the Anarchs and the Camarilla.
1. Chapter 1

Each chapter features two point of views that are relatively short. One is my friend Lea, and the other is myself. Because we're _those_ kinds of people. The ones that love something so much that they want to be a part of it.

So they make themselves a part of it.

Both POVs are written by their "character", so mine is by me and Lea's is by Lea. Her account is WhitePearlReaper, however she hasn't been active for quite some time.

* * *

Black Butler and it's characters, locations, etc (c) Yana Toboso  
Vampire the Masquerade and it's characters (c) White Wolf Publishing

* * *

Jenn's POV

I walked alongside Lea on the train tracks surrounded by forest. She laughed and watched as I wobbled back and forth on one side of the track. Trying to keep balance was harder than I'd expected. I glanced at her accusingly for laughing with a smile adorning my face as well.

We walked on, stopping every now and then for Lea to take a few pictures of the glistening river peeking through the trees. She brought her ipod out of her pocket and snapped a photo before changing the song. "Lea, if we keep it this loud all the time, I'll be deaf before I'm thirty!" I yelled, even though she was merely a foot away.

I never noticed the vibrations in the metal tracks traveling to my feet and up my legs.

I never heard the horn bellowing to us.

I never heard the screeching train breaks.

Lea, however, did. Her hand clamped around my arm like a dog's jaws, and pulled me out of the way. Horror struck me, as her body was plowed over by the train. Bones crunching, crimson exploding everywhere as it dragged my friend away. Wind from the train rushed by. I was hypnotized and my breath stuck in my throat. Then there was the awful feeling of my skull being hammered mercilessly by the ladder protruding from the train. Dizzy, my entire world spinning, I dropped to the ground. My breath grew shallow; blood gathered in my throat and attempted to choke me off. I sputtered and rolled to my side. The rhythmic sound of the train chugged on down the tracks, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, _ka-chunk._ Then it was gone, curved around the bend into a tunnel. Whimpering, I touched my hand to my head. It was abnormally warm and wet, and smelled sickly of salt and rust. Blood. A lot of my blood. My eyes tried to focus on the overcast sky, but something- no, _someone, _a man- obscured my vision.

"Hello, beautiful,"

I knew I was dying.

"It'll be over soon." A hand placed itself on my cheek and stroked it.

Darkness came for the longest time. It was cold, black, lonely. It felt like everything in the world was weighing down on my body. Pressure, so much pressure, but no pain.

I heard voices every second. That is, if time existed where I was. There was an array of types; calm and soothing, crisp and business-like. Then there was downright curious. And whoever prodded me was going to get a smack to the face when I woke up. If I ever did.

Was this what it was like after death?

It felt like an eternity passed before my heavy eyelids opened. I was in a well lit room, curtains drawn around the bed I was in. A hospital? _That can't be right. The train...I'm dead, _I fought with myself.

The curtains flung back. There was that steel-hard business voice. "This is the Grim Reaper Association."

"The what?" I asked blankly.

The man scowled. "You are dead. The tragic deaths of the world have created new opportunities, because your soul lives on although it is no longer a part of your human body. It sounds wretchedly ironic, yes, but now you have a choice."

I pursed my lips, "A choice of what?"

His eyebrow twitched. "If you would allow me to finish. You are clinically dead. You will be buried at a funeral or cremated left in the soil of the earth. Now, you have a choice. You can pass on to heaven or Hell; wherever you are destined to go, or you can help others pass on to the afterlife as a grim reaper."

"Are you bullshitting me? Am I dreaming?" I've had realistic dreams before, and I could believe it if this was another. He sighed and smoothed his gloved hand over the front of his suit.

Ignoring my previous statement, he went on, "Listen. No matter how you choose to look at it, _you are dead._ There is no way to go back to your life before. Your family and friends will be left behind no matter your choice. You will pass on and suffer the choice you made, or you can stay and help others pass on as a reaper. You will be able to interact with the mortal world; however you must do so for an eternity. That, too, has its own consequences. What will it be? The afterlife or _eternal life_?"

His eyes said he wasn't kidding, and what he said was convincing. If this was a dream, I would wake up the next day and nothing would have happened. My voice stuck in my throat. "I guess I'll go with a reaper."

He nodded. "Welcome to the Grim Reaper Association. You'll be put in the system and scheduled for training tomorrow." When he spoke, I felt less airy and more solid, like I was a part of the earth again. Although, I wasn't sure if even that was true. He turned to the doorway and beckoned. "Ronald. You are in charge of her. See that she goes through this process without issue."

"Do you think she'd be too much for you?" There was a cheerful voice on the other side of the door. "You're not that smooth with the ladies so I can understand. I'll make sure everything goes good, but I don't see why it wouldn't."

A young man, no more than a teenager out of high school, waltzed into the room. He wore a suit like the other man, but his jacket was open to show the tie and vest inside. He, too, had glasses, but he had bright orange hair with a bottom layer of deep brown.

"You don't look like you'll be too much trouble, darlin'." Ronald rested his foot on the edge of my bed, leaned over and held his head in his hand. He turned his head to the side inquisitively like a puppy. "Nothing I can't handle." His cockney accent overlaid his words in a thick coating, while Will's was much more refined and proper.

_I'm surrounded by British men, oh what the hell is going on? Am I really dead? Or am I dreaming?_

* * *

Lea's POV

Emptiness. All that was around me was an endless void. Whispers surrounded me. A feminine voice, a business like voice, a bored voice. Where was I? Surely I was dead. I got smashed to smithereens by a train. Yet there was no pain. Pressure, but pain was strangely absent.

After what seemed to be the longest time, I woke up. I was in a… Hospital bed? No, no that couldn't be right. I knew I died. A curtain surrounded my bed, and in the corner was the fuzzy image of red. Grabbing my glasses off of the end table while contemplating how they were still in one piece, I put them on. The fuzzy images cleared, and I saw it was actually a person dressed in red, with long hair to match.

He was filing his nails almost absentmindedly, looking very relaxed. I, on the other hand, was beginning to panic.  
"Oh I see you're awake." The red-head in the corner said, putting away his nail file. "Welcome to the Grim Reaper Association. You'll learn all of the _boring _stuff later. My name is Grell Sutcliff, the deadly efficient reaper."  
I stared at the self-proclaimed 'reaper', my brain not fully processing what was going on. He had to be joking, right? This was some kind of practical joke. It had to be! Grell put away the nail file with a sigh and pushed of against the wall he was leaning against. "I can see you're shocked, so I'll explain it once, nice and slow okay? You died. Now, you can choose to move on, or stay here and help us collect souls. We are quite shorthanded on staff."  
I bit my lip, thinking it over. This obviously wasn't a practical joke. _Perhaps I'm hallucinating…_ I mulled over in my head. Either way, something in me already knew the answer.  
"Count me in; I'm up for a challenge." I replied, a small smirk making the corners of my mouth turn up.  
Grell smiled a Cheshire grin, complete with pointed shark teeth. Bright green eyes glinted, causing me to wonder what exactly I just signed up for. "Good. I'll go tell William dear that you're in. He's the manager of this division after all. He'll fill you in after he's finished talking with your friend."  
I watched Grell walk out before sighing and lying back down. So Jenn was here too. Well, this should be one interesting job.

Boots and heels clicked on the floor of the marble hall as I was led to a great oak door. The one that Grell called "William dear" had filled me in on what was happening better than Grell had. He had informed me that this was the workplace of grim reapers, and that there were many different professions besides actual soul collection. There were librarians, office workers, doctors, secretaries, and much more. He told me that after an assembly we would be able to choose which division we wanted to work in. The assembly was apparently for the few of us who had decided to join today, and we would be briefed on all the jobs, and what each would be required, and much more.  
I stood in front of the door, and took a deep breath. It was now or never. Mustering up some courage, I pushed the doors open and entered the vast auditorium.


	2. Chapter 2

Black Butler and it's characters, locations, etc (c) Yana Toboso  
Vampire the Masquerade and it's characters (c) White Wolf Publishing

* * *

Jenn's POV

I was taken to a large white room, not unlike the rest of the building on the way there. Everything was white. Even the carpet. The walls would look much better if there was some color to them.

"They should really consider getting a new interior designer. This place is so…dead." I grimaced once we got into the room we were heading for, which reminded me of my high school auditorium filled with others, mostly men, in the same situation as me. Where the hell was the vibrancy?

Ronald laughed and turned to me. "That's ironic, ya know? Everyone in this building is dead."

"Everyone in this building is crazy."

"Isn't that why you chose to stay? Not a lot of people choose to be a reaper for the rest of their life. Although, most of the people that do, do it out of selfishness to live forever, and realize immortality isn't as great as it's cracked up to be. Sometimes there's a few that are actually interested. Why did you stay?" he inquired.

"That's a good question. I guess I just wasn't ready to die. I'm not even sure if that's the right word to use, because technically I am dead. But I guess you could call it selfishness if you wanted to."

Suddenly the giant oak doors opened again, and Will, a red-headed man and Lea walked in. My heart soared, thankful that she didn't choose to move on.

I waited until she and the man were seated before abandoning Ronald and taking a seat next to her. She wasn't looking in my direction. "Lea,"

She flinched and turned with a small grin. "I knew you'd stay."

"I didn't even think about the possibility of you staying here, wherever we are, at all." I was ashamed that I didn't even think about my best friend, whether this was a dream or not. I guess I stayed out of selfishness, and I guess she stayed because she wanted to be with me for an eternity, whether that be a good idea or not. May that as it be, I still felt bad.

"It's ok. I was skeptical about everything, too, but we really are dead."

"I wish this was just a dream."

We were silenced by a deep voice being cleared over the loudspeaker. William stood at the podium on stage. It was no surprise that the stage and podium were made of white-washed birch wood. The curtains in the background were midnight blue, embroidered in silver.

"Attention everyone, to those that have not met me I am William T. Spears of the Grim Reaper Association."

"You mean insane asylum!" Lea mumbled.

"Nightmare Association." I hissed.

"Even after we're dead we can't stop saying things at the same time." Lea tried to lighten my mood. I just shrugged.

"You are here because you chose immortality and responsibility over resting and being at peace. Every individual sitting before me will choose a profession within the association and be adequately trained for such purposes. As of now, there is no turning back. You must fulfill your duty as a grim reaper." Will continued in his boring monotone voice. "As for your professions, we have a variety to choose from. There are secretaries, librarians, scholars, instructors, weapon production, and the most important, the harbinger of death himself. The reaper."

"For the next twelve weeks, as a class, you will complete the fundamentals of working as a reaper. This is the foundation for all knowledge in the Association. After those twelve weeks, you may graduate from basic training and move on to study your profession of choice. It is not easy, therefor do not be careless. That is all I have to say for today's conference. Please follow your guides to the next room for your suits."

Two more sets of oak doors swung open one the sides of the stage, and the group began to disperse into two sections for men and women. I scowled. "Suits. I don't like suits."

Lea muttered a curse I couldn't quite catch.

I snorted, "I didn't tell you, but I woke up to that slave driver up there." I nodded my head toward Will as he disappeared behind the curtains.

Another voice chipped in behind us. "But I love that about him! His eyes are just so cold and cruel, and it drives me crazy!" It was the red-head.

"Grell!" Will barked from backstage.

"Coming, darling!" Grell waved his hand lazily and wandered off.

I was utterly speechless. I glanced at Lea, to Grell, and back to Lea. She shrugged, "I woke up to that."

On the other side of the doors was an open room filled with racks upon racks of shirts, jackets, vests, pants, ties and shoes.

It took nearly an hour and a half, but I found a suit that fit my body and my style properly. I stood in front of a mirror in my dressing room admiring the black suit, but it made me look too professional. However, there was no way I would get away with wearing it with the jacket hanging open. The shoes were very hated as well. They were merely plain black dress shoes. With a sigh, I kicked off the shoes and wandered back into the room where Lea waited for me. "All of these shoes I've tried on suck." I growled as I tore through the shoe rack for the fifth time. Hiding in the back, though, was a pair of knee-high boots. A grin tugged at the edges of my lips.

They fit perfectly. The boots reached up just below my knees, I learned as I laced them up. They looked somewhat like combat boots, only bigger. "Like 'em?" I stood up.

She nodded. "Nice."

Grell appeared back at the doors. "Everyone who has their suit please follow me!" I glanced at Lea. "Guess that's us." I said and followed Grell into another wing of the building. "So here's the offices where all the boring work is done. If you really want to get excitement in this place, you have to go reaping. Oh, and there's so much paperwork that you'll drown in it."

I grimaced.

"I don't expect many of you to choose and make it as a fully-fledged reaper, though."

I scowled sourly at him and spat, "You'd be surprised."

Lea added her input. "Yeah, it's probably not that hard. You just don't want to break a nail, huh?"

"You little twats! Don't yell at me like that! I'm your superior, you know!"

I blinked a few times, not fazed by the outburst.

"Don't yell at the ladies like that, Suttcliff." I flinched as Ronald seemingly appeared out of nowhere and put one arm around my shoulders and one around Lea's.

Lea shoved his arm off almost immediately, with the most annoyed look on her face, and I followed suit. "We would hardly consider ourselves ladies." She scowled. I wore the poker face that I'd carried all day.

"I see you caught up with us." I nonchalantly commented.

Lea butted in. "I hate men. Especially the arrogant kind."

Ronald looked at me with a bemused expression. I didn't respond.

"Are you calling me slow?" he asked.

I looked away. "I said no such thing."

"You were implying!" he accused.

I looked at him, my eyes narrowed, "I imply a lot of things based on what you say, so watch your tongue, boy."

It didn't take very long for Ronald to catch on to the fact that I didn't like being flirted with. I liked to do the flirting, but it's rare that I ever did.

* * *

Lea's POV

The tour ended rather quickly in a tense and awkward atmosphere between the new recruits and veteran reapers. I let out a sigh of frustration and turned to face William once he began speaking again.

"We will now show you to where you will be staying during the course of your training." He said in a cool tone, almost if he expected objection and dared us to try. I wondered just what they looked like, with a statement like that.

We walked for another good eight minutes at least, before arriving in the housing section. There were multiple rooms, with two beds to a room. A small bathroom was attached, with a simple standing shower, sink, and toilet. A small medicine cabinet was built into the wall, filled with generic bathroom supplies, and a tiny cabinet was stocked with towels.

"This isn't so bad." I murmured to myself as I stepped into one.

"Now, you'll have roommates, so go stand by the one whom you wish it to be." William explained, and I glanced at Jenn. A silent agreement passed between us as we stood by each other, and dashed into the room we had our eye on before he could say anything else. The last thing I heard before the door shut was an exasperated sigh.

I turned to face the room and saw Jenn and laid down on one of the beds already.

"I'm claiming this bed." She yelled through the pillow, which greatly muffled her voice.

"I can see that." I replied with a laugh, and sat on the opposing bed. "So, what do you make of this whole… mess?" I asked, with lack of a better word.

"Shit." She muttered into the pillow.

"Just shit?"

"Just shit."

"Get some rest." I sighed and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

I stared in the mirror, feeling restless and unable to let sleep take over my consciousness. This was a first for me, and I wasn't too particularly fond of it. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and noted a change. My once dull green eyes were a luminescent spring green. It felt odd, almost as if I was an entirely different person. Just the color of my eyes changed, and it caused that effect. I sighed and opened the medicine cabinet, grabbing the blue toothbrush.

I cleaned up in the bathroom, taking a shower, brushing my hair, and the works. Nearly two hours had passed when I was done. I changed back into my suit, lacking anything else. I hoped that we would be able to get more clothes soon, because this would quickly become uncomfortable. I quietly opened the door and peeked into the dim bedroom, lit only by the soft light filtering under the door in the hallway. Jenn was asleep under her blanket, just a mass under the covers. I noticed a note that had been slid under the door and walked softly over to it, picking it up. My eyes scanned over the note and nodded. It wasn't sighed, but it informed me that we were to report to the auditorium once more in the morning, where we would be taken to the training facility. I set it down on my nightstand along with my glasses, hoping that we would be awake by then. I buried myself under the soft covers of the bed, pulling them up almost the whole way over my head. I closed my eyes and tried to even my breathing, and soon the dark lull of sleep called.


	3. Chapter 3

Black Butler (c) Yana Toboso  
Vampire the Masquerade (c) White Wolf Publishing

* * *

Jenn's POV

The tour came to an end in the living department where everyone in the group was assigned an apartment, I with Lea. As soon as I entered the room, I squinted at the colors. Even in the dim lighting of the moon ghosting in the windows I could tell that nearly everything was white. The walls were white, the bed sheets were white, the carpet was white. It was almost a poor attempt at making life seem holy even after death. But it didn't come across to me that way. I felt lost. Damned, even. I was supposed to be dead, but I was immortal, and technically spiritually alive. My soul governed the body I was in.

I felt that still being able to interact with the world despite being clinically dead was screwing with the laws of the universe, and it wasn't right. But if this was what happened after death, I'd have to accept it.

I walked into the room and immediately flopped onto the bed closest to the window and declared it mine. Lea and I shared a short conversation, where I only had one word to describe out situation. Shit. I had no better way to describe my feelings. We would still be able to see people we used to know, but we couldn't talk to them or interact with them, and that was shit. Not being able to see my family was shit. However, those were the laws of the supernatural that we had to abide by. Do not interact with anyone in the living world that knows that you are dead. Do not tell them your real name in case there was a chance of them looking for you. Do not tamper with the government of any mortal culture. Do not reveal your true nature. Do not recklessly involve yourself with any mortal or other supernatural entity.

Do complete your work.

Being immortal and all, I'd thought that there'd be more perks, but I guessed not. I guessed. I did a lot of guessing, because I didn't know what was true and what was false anymore. I couldn't tell falsehoods from truths. I still couldn't determine if I was dreaming. Everything was too foreign to be real.

I laid there and said nothing. I stopped thinking and I listened to the sound of the water pattering in the shower. While Lea was gone, I took the time (did time even exist anymore? It was night, so perhaps) to unlace my boots and set them carefully to the side. I loosened the cravat (I chose it over a standard tie) and slipped it off. I placed it on the nightstand between our beds. Then I pulled off my blazer and my dress shirt and my pants, leaving myself in a tank top and my underwear. I looked in the mirror on the backside of our door. My hair was no longer a soft strawberry blonde; it had changed into a bright cherry red. This made my skin appear extremely pale, almost paper-like. I hated it. I hated the change in my appearance. I wasn't the me I knew.

Then I realized that I hadn't been breathing and gulped in air. How long had I been holding it? I sank onto the bed and tossed my glasses next to the cravat. I pulled the covers up to my cheek and curled up on my side, bringing my knees to my chest. Maybe I didn't have to breathe anymore. If I didn't need to breathe, did I need to eat? Would I bleed if I was injured? I whimpered and dug my fingernails into my arms. Frustrated, I searched for a new sleeping position. But I couldn't get comfortable. I was in a bed that wasn't mine, and it was like trying to fall asleep in a hotel room. It was different, and my body wouldn't relax enough to feel safe and fall asleep in an unfamiliar setting. It wasn't that I felt unsafe. I just wasn't comfortable enough. In my own bed, I knew how I liked to sleep in it, and now I had to become accustomed to this cement slab of a bed. Then another thought occurred to me. Did I need to sleep?

The water in the shower stopped. I froze in place and pretended like I was asleep.

I didn't want to talk anymore. Not tonight.

* * *

Lea's POV

I awoke to the gray light of early morning creeping in from between the window blinds, causing me to awake with a groan. I turned away from the source of light, and tossed my blanket over my eyes for good measure. "Just give me five more minutes." I mumbled to myself, curling up into a tight ball. I laid there for another half hour with no thoughts passing through my mind. Eventually I heard a knock on the door and Jenn roll out of bed to go answer it. There was quiet murmuring in the doorway before there was a "Thank you," and the door closed again.

"What was that about?" I mumbled into the cold side of the pillow.

"Ronald brought us more clothes." She replied, and I heard the flop of the clothes as she tossed them onto the end of her bed. "Should I just stay up and not bother going back to sleep?"

"Why would you do that? Sleep is your friend." My eyes cemented themselves shut again and I didn't fight the sleep.

A few moments passed, or was it minutes? Jenn shoved my shoulder and I huffed. Suddenly a stinging pain collided with my forearm and I felt her knuckles leave a searing pain in my skin. "GET UP." She hissed and yanked the covers from my body. I opened my eyes with a screech, "HOLY HELL, JENN."

"Good, you're up." She retreated back to her end of the room and began to lace up her boots. She was completely dressed and I had no idea what was going on as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was green. Ew. "An announcement came on about ten minutes ago that there's training at eight-thirty and _everyone _has to be there _on time_."

I didn't like how she stressed the "on time" part. And I didn't like the sound of training.

"I'm heading down to the lobby early to see if I can find some food. You can meet me there if you want, but," Her sentence trailed off, and she never finished it. My half-asleep mind didn't exactly understand most of what she said, but I couldn't ask where the lobby was because she was already out the door when my brain caught up with what she said. Shit.

How the hell do I get to the front lobby from here?

I let coffee perk while I was getting dressed. It turned out too strong, but that was okay. I needed it if I wanted to survive anything today. More importantly though, why was there already coffee in our room? Did that mean we had to eat, or just that we could? I shrugged everything off as I walked out the door to find the lobby. I figured it'd be pretty easy.

Damn I was wrong.

I wandered the halls for what seemed to be hours before I finally plopped down against a wall in a random hallway and yelled, "Screw it!". They're all so identical!

Footsteps grew closer and closer until finally they stopped beside me. "Oh, what's this? Is somebody lost?" Grell chuckled.

"Shut up." I huffed. "They all look the same!"

"It's very rude to tell a lady to shut up." He replied in an equally annoyed voice. "And yes, the halls are quite similar. But you've somehow wound up on the other side of the building than where training is..."

I buried my face in my hands and sighed. "Typical." I muttered and stood up. "You should totally show me where I'm supposed to go."

He chuckled again. "Fine. Follow me."

When we arrived, I took in the amount of physical effort displayed by the recruits. Some were running an obstacle course, while others were free-climbing some sort of rock wall. There was so much else that I _definitely did not_ want to do. Amidst the crowd, I spotted Jenn practicing combat with another reaper. And she was seriously kicking his ass.

"Way too much physical effort. It's like gym class all over again. Only on steroids." I cringed at the spectacle.

"Except you can't get out of this one. And you _might _actually be able to do these things now because you're faster and stronger. Of course you'll still have to work at it, but you don't get tired as easily." Grell was still beside me. I had almost forgotten, because I was intently staring at a blonde haired guy that had lost his foot hold on the climbing wall and literally ate it as he came crashing down. One of the ledges had smacked his jaw.

"Was that supposed to sound reassuring?" I looked over, crossing my arms. Grell was squinting.

"Uh, yes."

"Well it wasn't."

Grell forced me to mingle with the others and left me there, surrounded by more reapers in black suits. This wasn't a mandatory training like others would be, so I hung out around each of the stations just watching, and when someone asked me what I had done, I told them the last station I had come from.

But I didn't do anything except watch Jenn simultaneously kick ass while getting her ass kicked.


End file.
